When it comes to progressive renewable energy policies and climate change initiatives, most people look to European nations with their lucrative feed-in tariffs, vast numbers of wind turbines, and fields bristling with solar panels.
But right now the real climate action hot spot is Ontario, Canada. Ontario is currently undergoing a clean energy revolution that should make the rest of us sit up and take notice.
Under the government’s Long Term Energy Plan, the Canada’s most populous province will decommission all its coal-fired power stations and become totally coal free by 2014. By 2030, 92 per cent of Ontario’s electricity mix will come from combined renewable/nuclear-generated sources.
The Plan sets a 2018 renewable energy target of 10,700 MW from solar, wind and biomass sources, 13 percent of energy share, which will be supported by an expansion of the current feed-in tariff program. The Ontario Energy Ministry says 50,000 new jobs will be created.
Solar energy will become a major player in the new paradigm, growing to a 1.5 percent generation share and reaping a $9 billion dollar investment in infrastructure.
It is expected to take 20 years to achieve all the goals laid out in the plan and it will cost government and private investors a staggering $87 billion. But the according to Ontario’s Minister for Energy, Brad Dugaid, the cost versus reward is a simple equation.
” There is a clean energy revolution happening in Ontario, creating thousands of new, good jobs and cleaning up the air we breathe. Our energy plan is an economic plan with Ontario at the forefront of clean energy, creating a new industry and new jobs. And, we’re helping Ontario families with the cost of turning on clean energy and turning off dirty coal.”
